The Principle of Stasis: Why drift is not a Zero-Cause Law

This paper analyses the structure of evolutionary theory as a quasi-Newtonian theory and the need to establish a Zero-Cause Law. Several authors have postulated that the special character of drift is because it is the default behaviour or Zero-Cause Law of evolutionary systems, where change and not stasis is the normal state of them. For these authors, drift would be a Zero-Cause Law, the default behaviour and therefore a constituent assumption impossible to change without changing the system. I defend that drift's causal and explanatory power prevents it from being considered as a Zero-Cause Law. Instead, I propose that the default behaviour of evolutionary systems is what I call the Princ…

From Toys to Games: Overcoming the View of Natural Selection as a Filter

Drift and evolutionary forces

This arride analyzes the view of evolutionary theory as a theory of forces. The analogy with Newtonian mechanics has been challenged due to the alleged mismatch between drift and the other evolutionary forces. Since genetic drifr has no direction severa! authors tried to protect its status as a force: denying its lack of directionality, extending the notion of force and looking for a force in physics which also lacks of direction. I analyse these approaches, and although this strategy finally succeeds, this discussion overlooks the crucial point on the debate between causalists and statisticalists: the causal status of evolutionary theoty.; El presente artículo analiza la visión de la teorí…

El debat sobre l'estructura causal de la teoria evolutiva: lleis, forces i analogies

Resum: Aquest article analitza l’estructura de la teoria evolutiva i les discussions produides als seu voltant en les ultimes decades. En primer lloc, presente l’anomenada “interpretacio de forces” o “analogia newtoniana” i la seua estructura basada en l’elaboracio de tres lleis fonamentals. Mes endavant, mostre les critiques a aquesta interpretacio per diferents autors, en especial l’anomenada “versio estadistica” de la teoria evolutiva. Posteriorment, analitze la idoneitat de la interpretacio de forces i elabore una reformulacio de la mateixa que permet explicar el seu sorgiment i la seua utilitat dins de la literatura biologica. Abstract: This article analyses the structure of evolutiona…